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Boundary Bonner Kootenai Benewah Latah Nez Perce Lewis Shoshone Clearwater Idaho Morrow Umatilla Union Wallowa Baker Pend Oreille Stevens Ferry Spokane Lincoln Grant Adams Whitman Asotin Garfield Columbia Walla Walla Benton Klickitat Yakima Franklin Farm and Ranch Northwest SUMMER 2013 Wheat exports difficult to predict Farm bill remains in limbo Produced quarterly by Tribune Publishing Company Risky business of farmers markets Inside this issue

Northwest Farm and Ranch - Summer, 2013

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The quarterly agriculture magazine covering issues from Washington, Idaho and Oregon

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Page 1: Northwest Farm and Ranch - Summer, 2013

Boundary

Bonner

Kootenai

Benewah

Latah

Nez Perce

Lewis

Shoshone

Clearwater

Idaho

Morrow

Umatilla

Union

Wallowa

Baker

PendOreille

StevensFerry

SpokaneLincoln

GrantAdams

Whitman

Asotin

GarfieldColumbia

Walla WallaBenton

Klickitat

YakimaFranklin Farm and RanchFarm and Ranch

Northwest

SUMMER 2013

Wheat exports difficult to predictFarm bill remains in limbo

Produced quarterly by Tribune Publishing Company

Risky business of farmers markets

Inside this issue

Page 2: Northwest Farm and Ranch - Summer, 2013

2 | Friday, June 28, 2013 Northwest Farm and Ranch | Summer 2013

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Page 3: Northwest Farm and Ranch - Summer, 2013

Northwest Farm and Ranch is published quarterly by the Lewiston Tribune and Moscow-Pullman Daily

News and printed at the Tribune Publishing Co. Inc.’s printing facility at 505 Capital St. in Lewiston.

To advertise in Northwest Farm and Ranch, contact the Moscow-Pullman Daily News advertising

department at 208.882.5561 or Advertising Manager Craig Staszkow at [email protected], or the Lewiston Tribune advertising department at

208.848.2216 or Advertising Director Kim Burner at [email protected].

Editorial suggestions and ideas can be sentto Lee Rozen at [email protected] or Doug Bauer

at [email protected].

Boundary

Bonner

Kootenai

Benewah

Latah

Nez Perce

Lewis

Shoshone

Clearwater

Idaho

Morrow

Umatilla

Union

Wallowa

PendOreille

StevensFerry

SpokaneLincoln

GrantAdams

Whitman

Asotin

GarfieldColumbia

Walla WallaBenton

Klickitat

YakimaFranklin

Farm and RanchFarm and RanchFarm and RanchNorthwest

On the cover: Wheat exports will vary with the amount and quality

of the current crops | 11

All in the genesResearchers turn to genetics to reduce

infertility in dairy cows | 6

Seeds of opportunity

WSU research to make quinoa more available in

Pacific Northwest | 4

Fickle weatherArea farmers faced with

either too much or too little precipitation | 17

Farmers stand by need for government assistance

By Dylan Brownfor Northwest Farm and Ranch

Farm bills have a five-year life-span so farmers can plan ahead for the worst of what’s to come,

but those plans remain in limbo as the U.S. House of Representatives strug-gles to pass the needed legislation a year after extending 2007’s bill.

If Congress fails to act, commodity prices on essentials like milk could soar as the last permanent farm bill, passed in 1949, takes effect.

Most of the contention surrounding the nearly $1 trillion bill is tied to food stamps, which make up the majority of both House and Senate proposals. But Congress also is looking to reform controversial farm programs, includ-ing subsidies, direct payments to agri-cultural producers, crop insurance and market development.

The federal government has long had its hand in subsidizing agriculture, something Winchester, Idaho, farmer Bill Flory experienced first hand while lobbying in Washington, D.C.

“Congress has found themselves needing to come up with disaster programs because of major weather events,” the Idaho Wheat Commission’s District 2 chairman said.

The response has been myriad subsidies to secure markets, but one option, direct payments, is on the chopping block.

Direct payments pay farmers rais-ing specific crops — like the grains abundant in Flory’s area — a set amount of up to $40,000 per indi-vidual based on a per acre calculation, regardless of whether or not the farm-ers grow anything. The direct payment program also establish conservation requirements farmers have to meet in order to receive federal money. Many have complained the program has paid farmers for sitting on their hands, but Flory considers that a misnomer.

“They’re not making anybody wealthy, they’re providing stability in local markets,” he said.

While reforms can cut unneces-sary spending, Flory said growers need to grow in order to keep their enterprise viable, and with commod-ity prices high, “who wouldn’t want to produce?”

The goal when direct payments

were approved in the 1996 Farm Bill was to protect farmers against fluctua-tions in the market, but grain markets have thrived in recent years. Growers of crops like peanuts subject to huge price swings oppose eliminating the program, but so long as some sort of safety net remains intact, most Idaho growers are OK with the measure, said Idaho Grain Producers Association Executive Director Travis Jones.

“They see the value of it,” Jones said. “We can’t justify (direct pay-ments) in light of the nation’s bud-get deficit. We have to look for more reform-minded programs — not just free money.”

A portion of the billions saved would be diverted to risk management programs like crop insurance. Flory said nearly every farmer, regardless of location, uses some level of insurance to protect themselves against financial losses exceeding the standards set by the private insurers for any farmer.

“You’re a sheer, unabashed gambler if you don’t participate in risk manage-ment,” he said.

The taxpayer money spent on crop

insurance — $89 billion in the Senate proposal — helps stabilize agricultural markets and maintain the nation’s food security, Flory said. However, he understands the argument made by House Republicans, including his own representative, Raul Labrador, who opposed the farm bill.

“We have a deficit and we’re going to subsidize this?” Flory said, acknowl-edging the philosophical divide over how much of a role the government should play in controlling markets and when.

Despite the stability at present, Flory said with the increasing demand from a burgeoning middle class around the world and the wildcard that is the weather, the U.S. should proceed with caution in letting markets dictate food security.

“Producers would much rather have that but the country knows the vaga-ries of the weather,” he said. “Ag doesn’t exist in a vacuum. We need to be real careful — ag is cyclical.”

Dylan Brown may be contacted at [email protected] or (208) 848-2278.

Farm bill remains in limbo Friday, June 28, 2013 | 3Northwest Farm and Ranch | Summer 2013

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Page 4: Northwest Farm and Ranch - Summer, 2013

By Meredith Metskerfor Northwest Farm and Ranch

The grain-like seed crop qui-noa (pronounced KEEN-wah) could soon become more read-

ily available for interested farm-ers in the Pacific Northwest, as a result of efforts by Washington State University researchers.

Funded by a $1.6 million U.S. Department of Agriculture grant, WSU researchers have been planting, studying and cross-breeding many varieties of quinoa in several different states in the Northwest. Quinoa has become a high-demand crop because of its nutritional value and ability to grow in many different climates.

Quinoa is a highly nutritious, high-protein and gluten-free alternative to grains and rice. WSU Crop and Soil Sciences researcher Kevin Murphy said quinoa is the only grain seed food plant that is a complete protein.

“It has all the amino acids in the right quantities that humans need to digest,” Murphy said. “It’s the only one, and it’s pretty amazing.”

Because of the unique nutritional value, quinoa has also garnered inter-est from three WSU food scientists and their graduate students who will study quinoa nutrition, end use qual-ity and taste.

The countries that traditionally produce quinoa, such as Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador and Peru, are no longer able to keep up with U.S. demand, making quinoa an even more lucrative crop, Murphy said.

Murphy and his fellow researchers have been studying quinoa for about four years and this year planted 33 different varieties in 20-foot plots on a small patch of Clark Farm land, north of Pullman.

While most of the quinoa variet-ies on the Clark Farm produce white seeds, Murphy said there are 60 dif-

ferent shades of quinoa seeds.Ian Clark of Clark Farm also

planted the cherry vanilla variety of quinoa on the same patch of land. He said he planted on April 25 and plans to harvest in late August, around

the same time as his family’s canola harvest. Because quinoa seeds are similar in size to canola seeds, Clark said he plans to use the same combine to harvest both, a Case International 8010 combine with a standard

Geoff Crimmins/Daily NewsWashington State University alternative crop breeder Kevin Murphy, left, and farmer Ian Clark talk about quinoa in a field near Albion on Monday.

Seeds of opportunityWashington State University research to make quinoa more available for Pacific Northwest farmers

4 | Friday, June 28, 2013 Northwest Farm and Ranch | Summer 2013

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Page 5: Northwest Farm and Ranch - Summer, 2013

35-foot header.Murphy said while

quinoa grows well in the Pacific Northwest, the seeds can be diffi-cult and expensive to obtain. Clark said he paid $72 per pound and planted about three or four pounds per acre. Clark said he thinks he planted too heavy.

“It’s really hard to get a low density, small seed into the ground, and have it be at all consistent,” Clark said.

Murphy said another change he and his fellow researchers will make next year will be to use a precision seeder.

“Figuring out all that agronomy, just the general farming, is a big chal-lenge. It’s a brand new crop,” Murphy said.

Murphy said Colorado has been growing quinoa for 30 years and is the only state that has been growing it for longer than a few years.

WSU is work-ing with Utah State University and Oregon State University on the USDA grant-funded project. The majority of the qui-noa field trial plots in Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Utah are

grown on organic farmers’ land.The only non-organic farm involved

in the project is Clark Farm. Murphy said researchers don’t want to breed quinoa just for organic farmers, but rather for organic, non-organic, no-till and other farming systems.

“We want to know about varieties that do well under all different kinds

of farming systems. Farming systems play a huge role,” Murphy said.

In addition to being a money-mak-ing crop, Murphy said another incen-tive for regional farmers to grow qui-noa is that it is a low-nitrogen plant and highly drought-tolerant.

“There’s some growers, especially in the drier regions of the Palouse, that are really interested in it for those reasons,” Murphy said.

Murphy also said many large organic growers struggle to get enough organic manure and nitrogen for their fields because it’s expensive, so they often fertilize at half the rec-ommended rate.

“Quinoa can handle that, no problem, without major yield hits,” Murphy said.

Murphy said some farmers in the Yakima valley and Utah are inter-ested in it because it’s saline tolerant and can even grow and produce seeds in seawater.

Another challenge of growing qui-noa is most varieties’ seeds are cov-ered in a soapy film called saponin, which makes the seed taste bitter. Murphy said there are a few variet-ies that are saponin-free but they are very difficult to acquire.

Murphy said there are about a dozen seed providers in the U.S. that can sell seeds in different portions,

from small packets to up to 50 pounds. Murphy said the best providers he’s found are Wild Garden Seed, owned by Frank Morton, in Philomath, Ore., and White Mountain Farm in Colorado.

“Anything from Wild Garden Seeds does really well out here,” Murphy said.

Representatives from Wild Garden Seed and White Mountain Farm will be among the many researchers from around the world converging at WSU in Pullman Aug. 12-14 for the International Quinoa Research Symposium 2013.

The event will include hands-on demonstrations at local field trials, current research updates and it will coincide with the United Nations’ declared International Year of the Quinoa. Murphy said many research-ers from South America will attend the symposium, bringing with them a wealth of quinoa growing knowledge.

To find more information about or to register for the International Quinoa Research Symposium, visit https://www.etouches.com/ehome/qui-noa/117552/.

Meredith Metsker can be reached at (208) 883-4628, or by email to [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at: @MeredithMetsker

Geoff Crimmins/Daily NewsQuinoa plants are seen in a field near Albion on Monday.

“Figuring out all that agronomy, just the

general farming, is a big challenge. It’s a brand new crop.”

Kevin MurphyWSU researcher

Friday, June 28, 2013 | 5Northwest Farm and Ranch | Summer 2013

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Page 6: Northwest Farm and Ranch - Summer, 2013

By Anthony Kuipersfor Northwest Farm and Ranch

Fertility rates for dairy cows are declining, and a team of researchers from Washington

State University and the University of Idaho are using the latest technology to do something about it.

Recent studies show that the con-ception rate for an average herd of dairy cows is currently at 35 percent. This is a 15 percent decrease from the 1980s, or roughly a 1 percent drop per year.

Infertility is a costly issue for local farmers in terms of both time and money. A cow that is believed to be infertile must be culled from the herd and supported until infertility is con-firmed. Then it must be replaced. In addition, if cows can’t be bred, then milk production suffers and so does

the U.S. dairy market.Joe Dalton, a professor for the UI

Department of Animal and Veterinary Science, said numerous studies have shown a correlation between higher milk yield and lower fertility, but he said there is still not enough evi-dence for scientists to pinpoint the actual cause. So Dalton, along with WSU Department of Animal Sciences professors Tom Spencer and Holly Neibergs, are turning to genetics to solve the problem.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute for Food and Agriculture has awarded a five-year, $3 million grant to WSU, UI and the University of Florida to address cow infertility and improve the sustainability of the U.S. dairy indus-try. Spencer, Neibergs and Dalton are currently collecting cattle DNA and blood samples from dairy producers in

order to analyze the gene regions asso-ciated with fertility. So far, Neiberg said 2,200 blood and DNA samples from heifers in southern Idaho have been collected. She said they plan on collecting somewhere around 7,500 samples from both heifers and lactat-ing dairy cows by the end of 2014.

The goal, Neibergs said, is to use the information gathered from these samples to help producers select the right cows to breed, so they are not wasting time or money trying to “try-ing to get a cow to conceive that won’t conceive.”

“You can look at different regions associated with fertility … then you can select sires and females that have the regions that encourage them to be more fertile,” Neibergs said.

University of Florida animal sci-entist Pete Hansen will work with John Cole, a research geneticist at the

USDA Agricultural Research Service in Maryland, to identify the factors in a sire’s genetics that lead to daughter pregnancy rates.

Dalton said this type of study has never been done before. While phar-maceuticals have been used to control estrous cycles and time of ovulation in cows, scientists have yet to research how to address the problem with genetics, he said.

“This particular question has not been asked,” he said, mainly because the technology to perform such research did not exist until now.

If researchers are able to iden-tify and isolate the genes associated with fertility, their next step, Dalton said, will be to “get the results of the research into the hands of the pro-ducer so that it is usable.”

That is why part of the grant money will go toward an outreach program led by the UF Department of Animal Sciences. They will evalu-ate the efficiency of using genetics to

It’s all in the genesWSU, UI researchers turn to genetics to reduce infertility in dairy cows

6 | Friday, June 28, 2013 Northwest Farm and Ranch | Summer 2013

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Page 7: Northwest Farm and Ranch - Summer, 2013

increase fertility, then make those evaluations available online. Dalton said there will be online workshops and written articles that will help producers decide if genetic enhance-ment tools make sense for them. They can also use an online library called DAIReXNET to find out about poten-tial genes scientists have associated with fertility.

In addition, Dalton said dairy pro-ducers can send off hair follicles and blood samples from their cows to compa-nies that specialize in genomic testing, like Pfizer Animal Health. According to Pfizer’s website, the samples will be analyzed, then the evaluation of their findings will be sent back to the pro-ducer so they can make “informed deci-sions about sire selection, reproductive strategies and overall herd manage-

ment.” Ideally, Dalton said producers will be able identify and keep the heif-ers that have the right genes to repro-duce, then decide whether to keep the infertile cows.

With this new research and the right breeding management, Neibergs said cows that have the fertility gene will be able to pass those traits down to their offspring. Then, dairy produc-ers can put the brakes on the rising infertility rate.

“If you can gain 5 percent in fertil-ity over five years, that would be a good thing,” Neibergs said.

For more information, contact Neibergs at [email protected] or Dalton at [email protected].

Anthony Kuipers can be reached at (208) 883-4630, or by email to [email protected].

Associated PressFertility rates are dropping for dairy cows, which could become a costly issue for local farms in terms of both time and money.

Farm and RanchSUMMER 2013

Northwest Farm and Ranch is published quarterly by the Lewiston Tribune and Moscow-Pullman Daily News and printed at the Tribune Publishing Co. Inc.’s printing facility at 505 Capital St. in Lewiston.

To advertise in Northwest Farm and Ranch, contact the Moscow-Pullman Daily News advertising department at 208.882.5561 or Advertising Manager Craig Staszkow at [email protected], or the Lewiston Tribune advertising

department at 208.848.2216 or Advertising Director Kim Burner at [email protected].

Editorial suggestions and ideas can be sentto Lee Rozen at [email protected] or Doug Bauer

at [email protected].

Friday, June 28, 2013 | 7Northwest Farm and Ranch | Summer 2013

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Thank you for the vital fruit of your labor!

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Page 8: Northwest Farm and Ranch - Summer, 2013

By Elisa Eigurenfor Northwest Farm and Ranch

Feeding the predicted 9 billion people who will inhabit Earth by 2050 is a challenge agricultural-

ists around the world are working to overcome, including three Washington State University students.

WSU senior Victoria Barth and juniors Brandon Nickels and Ellen Robertson competed in the 2013 Thought for Food Challenge — a com-petition in which students developed a business plan and solution to feed the increasing world population.

“More food will have to be created in the next 50 years than in the past 10,000 combined,” Barth said. “It’s a daunting thing, especially considering many countries don’t have the agricul-tural security of the U.S.”

Barth, an integrated plant scienc-es major, said she found out about the contest from her International Development Club adviser Colleen Taugher. As Barth and her partners pondered ideas, agricultural education stood out as a key component of each

plan, which sparked their project: Food, Responsible Education and Sustainable Habits for the Future.

“The idea is that with agriculture integrated into K-12 education more students would be passionate about agriculture and equipped with the knowledge to understand how impor-tant it is in our society,” Barth said.

It wouldn’t be feasible, Barth said, to replace entire courses with agricultural education, so F.R.E.S.H. for the Future would integrate agriculture into each subject. Students could write research papers in English class on the differ-ences between genetically modified and organic crops, or participate in a crop growth competition in a science class.

“Through these challenges they would be learning and understanding the deep-er principles of agriculture,” she said.

Nickels, an agricultural economics and food business management major, said his family of generations of dairy farmers and involvement in 4-H and FFA influenced his decision to major in an agriculture-related field.

“It fostered my passion and the idea that maybe I could pursue a future

Barry Kough/TribuneWashington State senior Victoria Barth worked with the Thought for Food Challenge competition this year.

Food for thoughtWashington State University students look to improve education and help feed Earth’s growing population

8 | Friday, June 28, 2013 Northwest Farm and Ranch | Summer 2013

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Page 9: Northwest Farm and Ranch - Summer, 2013

career in agriculture,” Nickels said.

Nickels said less than 2 percent of the population is directly tied to food production, but the other 98 per-cent is responsible for voting on legislation that affects agricul-ture. Education is an important component of ensuring children understand agricul-ture’s role in society, Nickels said.

But children aren’t the only ones who need to be educated about where food comes from. Nickels said he has worked with adults who don’t understand an entire hog can’t be cut into bacon.

“Our project doesn’t have all the answers, but it’s a small piece of help-ing solve the problem,” he said.

Barth said the team developed a mission statement, goal, project plan and made a video to demonstrate their idea to viewers. They made it past the initial cut to 25 teams, but did not prog-ress to the final round of five teams.

Although they weren’t finalists, Barth said once classes resume in the fall she hopes they can look for grants

and donors to fund their project and lobby their ideas to legisla-tors in Olympia.

Robertson, an eco-nomics major, said F.R.E.S.H. for the Future would not have an immediate effect. However, she said if it was imple-mented eventually an entire generation would be educated about agriculture and able to make sustain-able decisions with

the resources at hand to feed the entire population.

Barth said 85 percent of urban chil-dren think food comes from the grocery store, not farms, and feeding more peo-ple will require everyone to understand agriculture at a basic level.

“Maybe not every student would major in agriculture, but every field would have at least the basic under-standing and the U.S. would be able to stand for agriculture in the fields of business and politics and farmers and teachers,” Barth said.

Elisa Eiguren may be contacted at [email protected] or (208) 848-2270.

“Our project doesn’t

have all the answers, but it’s a small piece

of helping solve the problem.”

Brandon NickelsWSU student

Friday, June 28, 2013 | 9Northwest Farm and Ranch | Summer 2013

Page 10: Northwest Farm and Ranch - Summer, 2013

The risky business of farmers markets

By Brandon MaczDaily News staff writer

Farmers markets have seen a resurgence in the Northwest over the past

10 years as increasing regu-lations and large competitors forced many small and mid-sized growers out of grocery stores.

At the same time custom-ers have become more keen to know where their food is coming from and what agri-cultural practices went into producing it.

Jeff Aichele of Aichele Farms started modestly with two markets six years ago. His father grew potatoes most of his life before large producers butted in and forced a change. Aichele said he turned his focus to berries on 20 acres of land in Stanfield, Ore., which are always a popular sell at farmers markets. Adding two to three markets every year, Aichele Farms now only sells at farmers market — up to 17 and growing.

“It wasn’t working for the smaller guys anymore,” Aichele said. “This is kind of a way that we have a little more control and, actually, we prefer it.”

The trick to making farm-ers markets profitable for growers is for them to find an absent product and fill the demand, said Aichele, while being the conduit between your products and the cus-tomer – always taking their feedback to heart.

Coming to a market with a product already provided by multiple other farms cre-ates competition new vendors would find difficult to contend with among the long-time vendors who have already established their produce with customers there.

“That just turns into a nightmare of too many peo-

ple selling the same perish-able products,” said Kole Tonnemaker of Tonnemaker Hill Farm in Royal, Wash. “It’s a very capital-intensive way to earn a living. You have to have land and some form of equipment. It’s easy to get over your head in a risky way of making money.”

Tonnemaker splits up the 20 farmers markets his farm sells at between him and his brother, Kurt, who takes those west of the Cascade Mountains. Starting in the 1980s, Tonnemaker said there was a slow decline at markets during the following 20 years as farmers retired and family members pursued other interests.

“In the last 10 years, we’ve added quite a lot of farmers,” he said. “There seems to be a resurgence of farmers grow-ing at a small scale.”

In reaction to lesser stan-dards in produce at grocery stores, many of which have

policies against buying local, demand is up at farmers markets, said Keri Wilson of Wilson Banner Ranch in Clarkston, Wash.

“If you’re on a small farm and you’re trying to sell local-ly, a lot of avenues are shut down,” Wilson said.

She said Wilson Banner Ranch wants to stay local, targeting six markets within a 50-mile radius of the farm.

“You need to do your clos-est farmers market first,” she said. “You don’t need to be traveling anywhere. The point of growing food is to feed your neighbors.”

“It’s become important for people to have some connec-tion to where their food is grown,” Tonnemaker said, “and I think that’s great.”

Competing by way of offer-ing the freshest produce, means picking it within a day of sale. That can add to over-head because a farmer needs to hire more help to expand, so

farmers recommend starting small. Anything that doesn’t get sold at market becomes a loss. Aichele recommends tracking sales and reacting to each market that way.

“People are getting berries that are less than 24 hours old,” he said “This year we’ve planted double our golden raspberries mainly because people always want them, and we’re always running out.”

“We sometimes have to wait until the end of the week to find out what we can har-vest and how we split it up,” Tonnemaker said. “Every place has its own character, without a doubt.”

Wilson said it’s also impor-tant to be aware of what the regulations are for produce at each market and to acquire some form of liability insur-ance in the off chance some-one claims to have gotten sick from your product. Most markets have hold-harmless agreements.

Because farmers markets focus on fresh produce from the farm, Wilson said many markets also require those farmers to be there at the time of sale. She splits up the six markets per week with her mother, father and her sister.

“That’s a huge amount of pressure and it’s not easy, and a lot of those farmers markets fall on Saturday,” she said.

Farmers expanding to other markets need to be aware of taxation, added Wilson. Washington doesn’t tax food, she said, but states like Idaho do, so pricing should also reflect that.

“Either way, you have to remit tax on your produce,” said Wilson, “and that needs to be noted for farmers on the border lands.”

Some successful farmers will get approached by mar-kets to join, but Tonnemaker said it isn’t always feasible.

“Some markets are very expensive to go to,” he said. “In some cases, we’ve actu-ally had some markets we’ve declined to go to because the fees are really high.”

Many markets allow walk-ons and Tonnemaker said its a great way to test products without committing time and money to a seasonal spot, which is how he got started at the Moscow Farmers Market.

“Start small and really test it to see if it’s right for you,” Wilson said, adding the commitment is massive and means forfeiting weekends. “There’s no such thing as a hungover Saturday.”

Those worried about losing perishable produce can use it to create added-value prod-ucts, such as jams, cheese, pies, sausages, spices and so on, which are very popu-lar these days, Tonnemaker said.

Brandon Macz can be reached at (208) 883-4631, or by email to [email protected].

Dean Hare/Daily NewsBecky Barry, right, of Moscow, holds fresh asparagus sold by Durfey Farm, of Pomeroy, Wash., during the Moscow Farmers Market on June 1.

Getting in the game10 | Friday, June 28, 2013 Northwest Farm and Ranch | Summer 2013

Page 11: Northwest Farm and Ranch - Summer, 2013

Experts weigh things like weather, world consumption and current events

By Elisa Eigurenfor Northwest Farm and Ranch

Scott Yates said wheat prices are expected to drop between harvests, which makes it difficult to analyze

how exports have been affected by uncoop-erative weather or the discovery of geneti-cally modified wheat in Oregon.

“It’s that time of year between old and new crops when shipments are slow anyway,” said Yates, Washington Grain Commission director of communications.

Yates said weather has been a negative factor this year in several states, including the top wheat producing states of Kansas and North Dakota. An early frost damaged crops in Kansas while North Dakota has had too much rain.

Wheat fields in the Northwest have also been affected by inconsistent weath-er. Yates said an early frost followed by 85 degree weather on Mother’s Day have made it doubtful whether Washington will yield even an average crop this year. The below-normal rainfall is also a hardship since most wheat farms in Washington rely almost solely on rain for crop moisture.

Intangible factors such as corn prices are also considered in wheat exports. Yates said corn is thought to influence wheat prices because if corn prices get too high or if there is a shortage then wheat is pur-chased instead of corn.

Yates said corn prices will always be cheaper than wheat and with a huge corn crop predicted for the U.S. this year mar-keters are already looking for wheat prices to fall.

Despite the uncertainty around prices,

Yates said a certain amount of wheat is grown each year and over time all of it will be exported. The top three export markets for white wheat in 2011-12 were South Korea, Japan and the Philippines. Although Indonesia is sixth on the list, Yates said it’s a bright spot among the export markets.

Indonesia relies on rice as its main source of sustenance, but rice consumption is only growing by 1 percent each year. However, Yates said wheat consumption rates have been increasing 7 percent each year in Indonesia. More than 46 percent of U.S. white wheat is grown in Washington, and Oregon and Idaho combined with Washington to produce 92 percent of U.S. soft white wheat in 2012. Increasing exports to Indonesia is a positive outlook for the U.S. wheat market, Yates said.

The Washington Grain Commission is also targeting Latin American countries as export markets. Yates said WGC has hired a consultant to scientifically show Latin American farmers how blending hard wheat with soft white wheat can improve their product.

Since the finding of the biotech wheat in Oregon, Japan suspended some imports and South Korea said it would increase its inspections of U.S. wheat imports. Yates said it’s too soon to know the full effect of the biotech wheat on exports, but it’s not a positive incident.

Yates said American consumers trust food suppliers because of organizations such as the Animal Plant Health Inspection Service, but other countries don’t have similar safety protocols. APHIS declared the biotech wheat an isolated occurrence on a single farm, and Yates said wheat growers need to convince customers that’s what it was.

Elisa Eiguren may be contacted at [email protected] or (208) 848-2270.

Barry Kough/Lewiston TribuneWheat exports will vary with the amount and quality of the current crops.

Wheat exports difficult to predict Friday, June 28, 2013 | 11Northwest Farm and Ranch | Summer 2013

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Page 12: Northwest Farm and Ranch - Summer, 2013

By Kaylee Brewsterfor Northwest Farm and Ranch

The Washington Grain Commission (and its precursor, the Washington Wheat Commission) budgeted $1

million in marketing for the 2012-13 year, the first time it hit the seven-figure mark in the history of the commission.

The decision was made last spring to allocate 18 percent of the commission’s budget for marketing — a growing goal of the organization.

“We’re the marketing organization for wheat and barley,” said Scott Yates, director of com-munications. “Wheat is essentially what we are responsible for.”

The budget for marketing has been increasing in the last 10 years. Last year’s bud-get for marketing was 17.5 percent of the bud-get, said Glen Squires, CEO of the Washington Grain Commission.

“The money going to marketing has been slowly increasing,” Squires said, noting the increase is due to differ-ent projects that needed to be funded.

“A big one this year was money for soft white wheat,” Squires said.

The Washington Grain Commission discovered that a baker in Latin America was blending soft white wheat with hard red. The commission began to blend the soft white wheat and the hard red on its own and sell it in Latin America.

“We have a consultant that works with us, not for us,” Yates said.

Plans are also in the works to sell this product in Asia. “You can blend 30 to 60 percent soft white wheat, equal to or better than just hard red, and it sells at a discount so you can save money,” Yates said.

Also for the first time this year the Washington Grain Commission held a marketing conference for Japanese, Korean and Taiwanese buyers, Squires said. The conference provided informa-

tion to potential buyers in these Asian markets.

According to Squires, 90 percent of the wheat grown in Washington is sold overseas, and the U.S. market sells 50 percent of its wheat overseas.

“The domestic market is not large enough to consume all the wheat,” said Squires. “In other countries, like Asia, they don’t grow wheat or they don’t

grow enough.”The grain is sent

to Portland and then is shipped overseas. “All grain that goes to Portland is shipped overseas,” Yates said.

Marketing funds were used to spend time with consumers explaining the qual-ity of the wheat both to buyers inside and outside the country. The Washington Grain Commission also has trade teams working with other countries to sell the wheat.

“I was on a trade team to Taiwan, Korea and Indonesia,” Yates said. The trade teams meet with customers to talk with them about the wheat and to thank

them. Trade teams also look at the overseas facilities and then they bring the information back to the commission. Yates also said that trade teams from other countries come to the U.S.

According to their website, www.wawg.org/wgc, the Washington Grain Commission is a self-governing agen-cy of the state of Washington. The Washington Grain Commission gives funds to enhance the production and marketing of Washington wheat and barley through wheat research, market development, education and informa-tion.

“We produce a crop. It’s important that we have a market for our crops,” Squires said of wheat production in Washington. “The commission felt it was not only important to develop and grow wheat but also have markets to purchase wheat.”

“We produce a crop. It’s important that we have a market

for our crops.”

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Marketing Washington wheat

Grain commission surpasses million-dollar mark

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Page 13: Northwest Farm and Ranch - Summer, 2013

By Gale FiegeThe Everett Daily Herald

ARLINGTON, Wash. — It’s Snohomish County’s best strawberry season in years.

That’s the word from farmers and farming experts who say this year’s warm spring helped produce tasty ber-ries on a more seasonal schedule, mean-ing in June.

Cold, rainy springs in 2011 and 2012 made it rough for some farm-ers. The berries were late and not as big. A bumper crop this month is showing up in farmers markets, you-pick fields, gro-cery stores and farm stands throughout the region.

“For generations, Snohomish County’s fertile farmland has been home to some of the best strawberries around. It’s evident in the abundance of fla-vor in a fresh-picked local strawberry,” said Snohomish County agriculture coordina-tor Linda Neunzig. “Today those fields are more productive than ever, with the cool rains and warm days we’re getting, they are in peak pro-duction right now.”

Drew Corbin at the Washington State University Extension office in Everett and his colleague, Chris Benedict in Bellingham, said Northwest Washington’s strawberries truly are bet-ter this year.

“Last year was one of the worst berry growing years that people can remember. This year, we got that early warm up this spring, got good pollination and have had good temperatures this month,” Benedict said. “June-bearing strawberries will be going for a few more weeks. We will look back at this season as a good year.”

At Biringer Farms of Highway 530 near Arlington, farmers initially were caught without enough berry pickers, said Dianna Biringer, whose family owns the farm.

“It’s been crazy. We are so swamped,” Biringer said. “The crops came on about a week earlier than expected. Schools

weren’t out yet and we were short on pickers. After all these years of raising berries, it’s still an unpredictable ven-ture.”

The Biringers have the sort of heavy crop not seen in about five years, she said.

“On sunny days, our you-pick fields are out-of-control busy,” Biringer said. “That’s good because we really need a good season.”

As do many area farmers, the Biringers grow the Shuksan variety, which was bred for the region, as their primary June-bearing strawberry. They grow a number of other strawberry varieties as well.

Benedict, the WSU crops expert from Bellingham, said that ever-bearing strawber-ries, what are called “day-length neutral” varieties, are becom-ing more popular with farmers in Snohomish, Skagit and Whatcom counties.

“In many farmers markets you are going to see strawberries

all summer long,” Benedict said. “And because of better temperatures, these berries are going to taste really good.”

There are many small farms through-out Skagit and Island counties that grow and sell strawberries, raspberries, blue-berries and others.

At Gil Schieber’s farm near Snohomish, it’s the farm’s second season for strawberries.

“Our mission here is to be part of a string neighborhood organic farms that people can walk to. Last year, our ber-ries got in the ground at the end of May, so they came on later in August. People said they hadn’t tasted anything like them since the 1970s,” Schieber said. “We are on a hill, so we had a little bit of late frost this spring. We grow mostly ever-bearing, so it’s still early in the sea-son for us.”

For Biringer, too, it’s just the start of summer.

“We have raspberries coming on already,” she said. “It’s going to be a good one.”

Strawberry season arrives in Washington

Associated PressEthan Groenig, 7, of Lake Stevens picks strawberries in the you-pick fields at Biringer Farm in Arlington, Wash., on Saturday. This year’s strawberry season in Snohomish County is turning out to be the best in years.

Bumper crop is showing up in farmers markets, you-pick fields, grocery stores and farm stands

“Last year was one of

the worst berry growing years that people can

remember. This year, we got that early warm up

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had good temperatures this month.”

Chris Benedictof the WSU Extension office in Everett

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Page 14: Northwest Farm and Ranch - Summer, 2013

By Kaitlyn Krasseltfor Northwest Farm and Ranch

Steve Lyon started his career as a wheat breeder and commercial farmer on the Palouse. Now he

works in Mount Vernon as a senior sci-entific assistant and plant breeder for Western Washington crop variations.

Next spring he will make his return to the Palouse in a way he never expected — as the namesake for a new variation of barley modified to grow particularly well on the Palouse.

WSU barley breeder Kevin Murphy chose the name for the new variation. He said Lyon was a great influence while he was pursuing his graduate degrees at WSU and he felt naming a breed after Lyon was a great way to honor him.

“Steve was really the lead techni-cian the whole time I was a grad stu-dent (at WSU) for both masters and Ph.D. … and has just had a huge influ-ence on agriculture on the Palouse and I just thought it would be a good way to honor him by naming the variety after him,” Murphy said.

Murphy said the process for naming new crop variations is up to the breed-er. Breeders can choose to name their crops after anything ranging from birds and animals to places and people.

“I was influenced by Steve Jones who always named his varieties after people, and particularly people involved in Washington agriculture in some form or another, particularly with wheat,” Murphy said. “All of his varieties were named after people who he wanted to honor with a name, and so I just continued that tradition with Steve Lyon.”

Murphy has been the WSU breeder for two years and as a result, the new Lyon variation is only the second one he will release.

Lyon said he was honored and sur-prised by Murphy’s decision, which he found out about when Murphy led graduate students on a tour of classes at the WSU Mount Vernon Northwestern Washington Research and Extension Center where Lyon works.

“I was quite surprised especially because it’s barley because I’ve worked in wheat my whole life,” Lyon said. “It’s always nice when someone recognizes the work that you’ve done. It’s very rewarding.”

Murphy said he thought about the fact that Lyon had worked primarily in wheat, but felt the influence he had on Palouse agriculture as a whole was more important than the breed he worked with.

“I named the barley variety after him because I’m the barley breeder at WSU so I don’t release wheat variet-ies,” Murphy said. “A wheat might be

more appropriate but I don’t have the luxury of naming wheat varieties.”

Lyon worked in the win-ter wheat breading program at WSU for 10 years and was the senior scientific associate and lead field technician until 2010 when he was transferred to Mount Vernon.

“Previous to that he’d been a farmer as well so he knew

Palouse agriculture really, really well, and he played a really key role in a lot of winter wheat varieties that were developed through that winter wheat program,” Murphy said.

Lyon barley was developed to grow well in a variety of environments and rainfall zones, which makes it an ideal variation for the Palouse. Murphy said he felt it was appropriate for a Palouse variation to carry Lyon’s name since he no longer lives in the region.

“He’s lived here so long and it’s just a reminder since he doesn’t live here anymore his influence is still with us here,” Murphy said.

Lyon barley is a two-row spring feed barley with several distinct features that set it apart from other variations. The variation has a high yield in a variety of landscapes, excellent stem rust resis-tance and plump, high protein kernels.

“Farmers all over Eastern Washington can grow this variety,” Murphy said. “A lot of varieties will grow well in one area but this is a vari-ety that grows and has a high yield in many different areas.”

Although Lyon has technically been grown on the Palouse for 10 years as it has been developed by breeders at WSU, it is not yet commercially avail-able, and no farmer has actually been able to use the crop.

“It takes about 10 years for a variety to be created, to be developed,” Murphy said.

He said a variety release commit-tee comprising scientists, breeders and farmers has tested and observed the variety as well as many others as

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they’ve been developed on the Palouse. He said that although distributors and growers have yet to get their hands on the variation, they know what it is and are anticipating its release, set for early spring 2014.

“The folks that are excited about this one are the growers because it is quite high yielding,” Murphy said.

Although the variation won’t grow near Lyon’s new home in western

Washington, he said it’s good to know he’ll still be on the Palouse.

“There are more people that deserve it than I feel I do,” Lyon said. “It’s the highest honor someone in the grain industry can receive. It’s very satis-fying, very rewarding and certainly something we don’t expect.”

Kaitlyn Krasselt can be reached at (208) 669-1567, or by email to [email protected].

Contributed photo05WA-316.K, now known as Lyon barley, is a two-row, spring barley developed for its higher yield potential than other varieties grown in eastern Washington.

Friday, June 28, 2013 | 15Northwest Farm and Ranch | Summer 2013

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Page 16: Northwest Farm and Ranch - Summer, 2013

By Erik Finkfor Northwest Farm and Ranch

Washington State University scientists recently finished sequencing the genome for a

costly pathogen spread by tick bites to horses, mules, donkeys and zebras.

Theileria equi is an intracellular protozoan parasite and causes piroplas-mosis in its host.

Animals with piroplasmosis can develop anemia and show symptoms like fever, jaundiced mucous mem-branes, swollen abdomens and labored breathing. In less severe cases, the host might show mild symptoms like fatigue and a lack of appetite, causing its owner to misdiagnose the disease as something less serious.

Kelly Brayton, associate professor in the WSU College of Veterinary medi-cine, and a team of scientists working to understand how this pathogen cre-ates a lifelong persistent infection in animals led to the completion of the T. equi genome.

Having a genome does not give you a vaccine, she said, but it allows other work to be done.

While creation of a vaccine that would be effective in preventing infec-tion is a long-term prospect, said Lowell Kappmeyer, geneticist and first author of the team’s T. equi genome paper, there could be a vac-cine sooner that would suppress the severity of infection in animals, caus-ing a decline in the spread of the infection.

The genome could also help discover existing drugs that could be used imme-diately to treat infected animals until a better solution is produced, he said.

T. equi was first introduced to the United States in the 1960s and was eradicated from the country at a cost of $12 million. The pathogen reap-peared three years ago at the King Ranch in Kingsville, Texas. It is still unknown how the pathogen was able to re-enter the country.

Brayton said testing can’t catch every infected animal that comes into the country. She said since the virus

is mainly spread through tick bites, an animal can come into the country and live a while without spreading the disease.

Brayton said if left unchecked, the pathogen could establish a solid foot-hold by spreading any place in the United States with ticks.

Infected animals can die, Brayton said, adding that the animals that recover still have the disease but will seem like regular healthy animals. They become what is known as an independent carrier.

Over time, more independent car-riers enter the country and inevitably spread the T. equi pathogen and the disease. Many of the animals at the ranch were moved to other states, and the question is whether animals coming out of the ranch were infected, and, if so, where did they go.

Brayton said most of the organisms she works with that establish lifelong persistence change the proteins on their surface to disguise themselves from the animals’ immune system.

“Which is a really foxy thing to do, but this organism is really a conun-drum because it doesn’t appear to do so,” Brayton said.

She said after completing the genome, the team was able to confirm 10 protein representatives in the gene family, where before they only knew of three.

Now that the surface proteins of the organism are known, in depth study by graduate students can begin.

Kappmeyer said that since this organism has a limited repertoire of proteins it can use to hide from immune systems, the proteins may make different combinations allow-ing them to potentially portray mil-lions of different looks to the immune response. Current research is meant to discover if that is the case.

The completion of the genome was a nationwide team effort with input from as far away as Washington, D.C., Kappmeyer said.

Erik Fink can be reached at (208) 883-4686, or by email to [email protected]

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16 | Friday, June 28, 2013 Northwest Farm and Ranch | Summer 2013

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Page 17: Northwest Farm and Ranch - Summer, 2013

By Dylan Brownfor Northwest Farm and Ranch

The rain comes in sideways, then vanishes; a string of 80-degree days is followed by frost

— farming is a fickle business, even in relatively hospitable north central Idaho.

The weather, particularly precipitation, is critical for farmers like Kendrick dry-land grower Robert Blair in a region where irrigation is almost nonexistent.

“It all gets back to weath-er,” he said.

Blair collects his own weather data at his farm between the Clearwater and Potlatch rivers, and prior to a down-pour in mid-June, there were some concerns out in “farm country.”

“Nobody’s losing sleep at this point in time. You live with it,” he said. “There is some uncertainty as to what our production will be this year — average yields.”

The spring for Blair’s acres of winter and spring wheat, peas and alfalfa was forebodingly dry. His win-ter wheat — a top crop in a region famous for its grain — was bypassing the “blue” stage and showing signs of the yellows and browns of water stress.

From January to May, Blair had only received 5.8 inches of precipita-tion, compared to 12.5 inches in 2012.

“And then add to it last fall — 84 days without moisture,” he said.

The totals for 2012 — a bumper year across the region — weren’t extraordinarily high either as Blair received more than 9 inches in both 2010 and 2011.

That drying trend held true in the lowlands around Lewiston. The 2.3 inches in the period from March through May was the eighth driest since 1948, according to National Weather Service data.

The differences between the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley, the Palouse, Camas Prairie and the rest of the area University of Idaho cropping systems extension educa-tor Doug Finkelnburg covers become readily apparent when rainfall is in

short supply.Finkelnburg said the drier regions

in the low country see increased inci-dents of soil-borne diseases and other pathogens with less precipitation.

“You’re going to see stress in com-bination with other factors,” he said. “That one-two punch extenuates prob-lems from water stress.”

John Livingston, the mete-orologist in charge for the Spokane office of the National Weather Service, said the regional differences stem from the “up-slope effect.” When air containing enough moisture rises, condensation turns it into precipitation. This means higher elevations receive more moisture than lower elevations

like Lewiston.“It doesn’t benefit in any way from

up-slope,” Livingston said.Most of the rainfall in Lewiston

usually comes from widespread sys-tems that pass over the region.

“That’s when you guys get your rain,” he said. “Some places will get more, some places will get less.”

The timing of the 12-13 inches Lewiston usually receives annually is the critical element. A wet May and June has made for big yields the past two years for growers like Blair.

While it may have come too late for some growers in low-lying areas, the system that swept through earlier in June brought “a million-dollar rain” just in time for growers on the Palouse and Camas Prairie.

The more than an inch on June 19 alone took Lewiston’s total, as of June 24, to 1.36 inches for the month — 0.35 above normal — and the total on the Palouse is also above average.

Despite a wet June, Lewiston is still 0.67 inches behind the average for the “water year,” which began Oct. 1, 2012, according to Livingston. While farmers may be resigned to accept the yearly or monthly precipitation totals, they do call Livingston during harvest or other critical moments of the year.

“They look at the forecast at these critical times,” he said. “But, big pic-ture, they take what they get.”

Brown may be contacted at [email protected] or (208) 848-2278.

Blair

Farmers and the fickle beast known as weatherThe problem of too little or too much precipitation

Friday, June 28, 2013 | 17Northwest Farm and Ranch | Summer 2013

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Page 18: Northwest Farm and Ranch - Summer, 2013

By Ryan Tarinellifor Northwest Farm & Ranch

As the 2013 Farm Bill makes its way through Congress, Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., has

cosponsored a provision, which would reauthorize several renewable energy grant programs. If passed, the pro-grams would continue to invest in small rural businesses and communi-ties, helping fund renewable energy and energy efficient projects through grant funds.

“This legislation supports their innovative ideas that can reduce operating costs for our farmers while expanding America’s supply of clean energy,” said Cantwell. “By support-ing clean energy development, we can create jobs and opportunities in rural communities across the country.”

The Rural Energy for America Program is one program that was first authorized as a part of the 2002 farm bill, then revamped in the 2008 and given a new name, said Brian Buch, a USDA rural energy coordina-tor. He said that the REAP has been a popular program, and is one of the major programs that would be reau-thorized by the act.

“Nationwide it’s been over sub-scribed, we’ve had a lot of demand for the program. In Idaho, we’ve had the same experience,” Buch said. “We’ve seen a lot from renewable energy, of just about every type, to energy efficiency.”

The REAP aims to invest money into renewable energy projects, and energy saving techniques to reduce energy usage in rural areas.

He said a local example of a REAP investment is when solar panels were installed on top of a winery in Moscow, where they can now mass-produce wine using solar energy.

“These investments will not only help our farmers and rural small businesses reduce energy costs, but also provide a new potential rev-enue source and stabilize their opera-tions’ bottom lines,” said Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack.

Buch said the dairy industry that has benefitted from investments in anaerobic digestion, which help with waste management. It not only saves energy, but also allows farms to sell their excess energy to others.

Edaleen Cow Power LLC is a small power company in north-

ern Washington that is harnessing energy using an anaerobic digest-er that breaks down biodegradable material by microorganisms. Edaleen received a loan and grant money from the REAP, which helped it sell its excess electricity to a utility com-pany. Edaleen predicts it will produce 4,635 megawatt hours of electricity per year.

Since REAP was authorized by the 2008 farm bill, the program has fund-ed over 6,800 energy project rang-ing from energy audits to renewable energy projects.

“We see a diverse number of appli-cations in demand and, we can’t fund them all,” Buch said. “If there is a failure, its just that the demand right now for this type of activity is really high.”

Unfortunately, not all projects turn out to be a success, said Buch. He said occasionally businesses that do receive a grant cannot implement the plans they had, and the plan is not completed.

The act would reauthorize other investment programs including the Biorefinery Assistance Program that provides loans for the construction, retrofitting and development of bio-refineries. The program aims to have an environmentally friendly alterna-tive to fossil fuels, and create jobs and biorefinery infrastructure in rural communities.

The provision would also reau-thorize the Biomass Research and Development Initiative that would offer grant money to further the devel-opment and technology of advanced biofuels and biomass-based energy.

Buch said rural small businesses are eligible for grant money. He said agriculture research organizations also can apply for the program, but residential groups cannot.

Although the deadline for grant applications passed in April, the USDA is still accepting applications for guaranteed loans until July 15.

The act has drawn support from other Democrat senators from states with large agriculture businesses like Sherrod Brown from Ohio, Tim Johnson from South Dakota and Dick Durbin from Illinois, who, along with Cantwell, have cosponsored the act.

Ryan Tarinelli can be reached at (425) 999-1993, or by email to [email protected].

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Investing in renewable energy18 | Friday, June 28, 2013 Northwest Farm and Ranch | Summer 2013

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Page 19: Northwest Farm and Ranch - Summer, 2013

Friday, June 28, 2013 | 19Northwest Farm and Ranch | Summer 2013

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Page 20: Northwest Farm and Ranch - Summer, 2013

20 | Friday, June 28, 2013 Northwest Farm and Ranch | Summer 2013

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